Rear door end assembly



Nov. 7, 1950 T. c. BROWN ErAL 2,528,818

REAR DOOR END ASSEMBLY Filed arch 11, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Nv. 7, 1950T. c. BROWN ETAL REAR DooR END ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 11.1947 Patented Nov. 7, 1950 Y REAR DOOR END ASSEMBLY Thoburn C. Brown andWilliam R. Brown,

' Spokane, Wash.

Application March 11, 1947, Serial No. 733,870.

7 Claims.

This invention relates to a rear door end assembly for an automotivetruck or trailer and is a continuation in part of applicantsapplication, Serial No. 586,324, filed April 3, 1945, which applicationhas been abandoned.

The principal object of this invention is to provide an end closuremember carrying doors, called here a rear door assembly, for a truck ortrailer body and which is a separate unit having cooperative memberswhich make it possible to mount the rear door assembly as a unit on theopen end of a truck or trailer body.

Another object of this invention is to provide corner pillars of asingle piece of metal which carry a forwardly directed channel forreceiving the ends of the body side walls and exactly relate them to therear door assembly so as to eliminate corner pillars and adapted toreceive the rear horizontal end of the trailer roof.

Another object of this invention is toV provide a sill adapted toreceive various types of thresholds, both of which may be quickly andstrongly associated with the corner pillars.

Another object of this invention is to provide integrally with thecorner pillars a .flange to receive the corrugated sheathing of the sidewalls of the body.

These and such other objects as may herein-A after appear are attainedin an embodiment of the invention disclosed in copending application,Serial No. 586,324, and in an improved embodiment, both shown in theaccompanying drawings, comprising two" sheets, wherein:

Fig. 1 is Fig. 2 in the drawings of application Serial No. 586,324,enlarged, and is a perspective view of the front face of applicants reardoor assembly;

Fig. 2 is identical with Fig. 7 in the drawings of Serial No. 586,324with the side wall and wood frame omitted, and is a view taken on theline 2-2 of Fig. 1 of this application;

Fig. 3 is identical with Fig. 6 in the drawings of Serial No. 586,324with the wood frame omitted and is a View taken on the line 3--3 of Fig.1 of this application;

Fig. 4 is a rear face view of an improved rear door assembly;l

Fig. 5 is a view taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 4; and,

Fig. 7 is an inside elevation of the upper corner of the assembly.

Continuing to refer to the drawings, and particularly to Figs. 1, 2, and3, the rear door assembly generally identified by the numeral I!)comprises spaced corner pillars I2 and I4 joined by a header IS and asill I3. Referring to Fig. 2, a

corner pillar comprises a curved central portion 26 having integraltherewith ak forwardly projecting wall 2, an inwardly projecting wall24,`and a forwardly projecting wall '26. Walls 22 and 25 form a channelconstituting a side wall gripping channel 23 and wall 24 constitutes astop. The other side of the curved central portion 26 extends inwardlyof the back of the assembly and then Yforwardly to form a door jamb 3dhaving a vertical slot 32 opening into a vertical recess 34 in which maybe positioned the base of a rubber door seal. The channel 2B, beingformed .by an integral, molded metal shape, provides an accurate meansfor establishing a xed parallel relationship between a side wall and thedoor jamb 30.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the header or lintel I6 comprises three members36, 31, and 38. The member 36 has a curved central portion 46 and aforwardly directed channel 42 formed by two parallel walls 44 and 46 anda stop wall 48. The member '3l is a spacer plate which may be of variousheights to accommodate different height doo-rs, and it is assembled withthe member 36 and the member 38 by welding or rivets. The member 38carries a horizontal door jamb 56.

Referring 'to Figs. l and 2, the sill I8 joins the inside bottoms of thecorner pillars.

The embodiment shown in Figs. l, 2, and 3 is characterized by forwardlydirected vertical and horizontal channels 28, 29, and 42. These channelslbeing part of members which themselves v carry portions of the doorjamb, accurately relate the main body of the vehicle to the doorswithout assistance from jigs, etc.

Figs. 4, 5, 6, and '7 show an improved rear door assembly. Referring toFigs. 4 and 5, 52 is av U- beam still having a recess 54 in which seatsthe lowerwall of a threshold 56 for a refrigerated trailer body. The twoare held by rivetsv 5l. Sill 52 carries a bottom iiange 59. Thethreshold 56 has an angular recess 58.

Fastened beneath the horizontal Wall 62 of the sill 52 at either end aregussets 64 and 66, which have the configuration indicated in Fig. 6 asdefined by the lines 68, 10, and 12. The walls '|4 and 16 of thethreshold 56 are cut out at 18, and between this cut-out portion at 'I8and the Wall of the gusset 64 at I0v is inserted one sideY of a cornerpillar 80. The corner pillar -80 is a beam and in cross section has aninety-degree curved portion 84 which on its forward edge includes asiding cap 86 and a forwardly directed channel 88 formed by a stop wall90 and two spaced parallel walls 92 and 91|. On the'inwardly directededge of the curved portion 84 is a forwardly directed wall 96constituting a door jarnb, an inwardly directed wall 98 constituting 4adoor stop, and a forwardly directed wall |00. A slot and recess |02 isincorporated in the ycorner pillar extrusion or casting to hold the baseof a door seal. In this specification the words door jamb includenotonly what is properly the jamb, namely lwall 96, but also the doorstop 98, and the words door jamb carrying a seal holder mean a door jamband stop containing a seal holder.

The pillar y80, sill 52, threshold 56, and gusset 64 are held inassembled relationship by a, corner casting |04 which has an insidesurface that conforms to the outer contour of the corner pillar '80 andwhich is fastened to the side wall of the sill 52 and the side walls ofthe corner pillar 80 by suitable means such as bolts or rivets |06.Corner pillar v32 is similarly assembled to sill 52.

Referring to Figs. 4 and 5, the upper ends of the corner pillars 80 and82 are held in assembled relationship by a lintel |01 Vcomprising afacing |08, a horizontal door jjamb carrying a s'eal holder and astraight portion I |2. The door jamb ||0 and wall H2 are cut away at||4, see Fig. 4, so that the end of facing |08 may be riveted to therear fiatV portion of the corner pillars 80 and 82. A header plate H6 isriveted to both the corner pillars '80 and 82 and to the lintel |01.

The top header, designated by the numeral |8, comprises a curved centralportion having integral therewith forwardly directed walls |20 and |22joined by a stop wall v| 24 and forming therebetween a gripping channel|26 for receiving the rear horizontal edge of a body roof. The header isriveted to both the header plate and to the tops of the two cornerpillars 80 and 82. The header, referring to Fig. 5, carries a driptrough |32. The upper corners of the rear door assembly, andparticularly the rigid alignment of the Athe exact conguration of therearwardly directed walls of the vehicle body may be so long as they litsnugly intoV the channels such as |26 in Fig. so that they may befastened to either or both the walls |20 and |22 by a series of rivets,or by a series of welds or a continuous weld; The advantage of theconstruction is that it establishes an accurate means of aligning therear doors with the main body of the trailer'.

4 The doors themselves are not shown because applicants use differenttypes of doors.

It should also be noted that in the door jambs Y 98- and H0, the slotcarries ya transverse slot such as |38 or |40 into which the base of arubber gasket may befed and snapped into place.

Having thus described our invention, what we claimis:`

1. As the vertical corner pillars for a rectangular frame for a rear enddoor assembly for a vehicle body to the walls of which the rear edges ofthe body of the vehicle may be fastened, an integral corner pillar ofuniform ycross section comprising a corner wall, a forwardly directedU-shaped channel in the forward edge of said corner wall, a door jambvextending forwardly Y t' from vthe inner-edge ofthe corner wall parallelto the side walls of the U-shaped channel, a door stop extending fromthe inner edge of the door jamb inwardly of the assembly, a passagewayin said doorstop extending the full length thereof, and a slotlengthwise of the doorstop and having a width less than the width of thepassageway and connecting the passageway to the surface of the doorstop.

2. As the Vertlcal cornerpillars for a rectangular frame for a rear enddoor assembly for a vehicle body to the walls of which the rear edges ofthe body of the vehicle may be fastened, an integral corner pillarV ofuniform cross section comprising a corner wall, a forwardly directedU-shaped channel in the forward edge of said corner wall, a door jambextending forwardly from the inner edge of the corner wall paralleltothe side walls of the 4U-shaped channel, a door stop extending fromtheir Vinner edge of the door jamb inwardly of the assembly, apassageway in said doorstop extending the full ylength thereof, a slotlengthwise of the doorstop and having a width less thanathe width of thepassageway and connecting the passageway to. the surface of thedoorstop, and a transverse slot having a length approximately the widthof the passageway and connecting the passageway to the surface of thedoorstop so as te intersect the first slot at approximately rightangles.

3. As the lintel for a rectangular frame for a rear end door assemblyfor a vehicle body having a forwardly directed channel on at least threesides thereof and to the walls of which the rear edges of the'bcdy ofthe vehicle may be fastened, an integral lintel of uniform cross sectioncornprising a door jamb, a door stop, a passageway in said door stopextending substantially the full length thereof,` and a slot lengthwiseof the door stop and having a width less than the width of thepassageway andconnecting the passageway Y to the surface of the doorstop.

4. As the header for a'reetangular frame fora rear'end door assembly fora vehicle body, a lintel havinga door jamb carrying integrally therewitha seal holding channel, a cornice header spaced from vand above thelintel having a forwardly directed channel lengthwise thereof andformed* integrally therewith, and an upright plate fastened at its topedge to the header and along its bottom edge to thelin-tel.

5. A vehicle body rear end assembly for a door opening comprising abottom sill, a top header, a pair of side pillars supporting said headerupwardly and away from said sill, side wall mounting channelspositionedabout the perimeter of said pillars and header so as toreceive and secure the walls and roof of a vehicle body, and aY floormounting channel fixed to said sill and so posivtloned as to receive theoor of a vehicle body,

said channels being coextensive with the lengths of said header, pillarsand sill.

6. As the corner of a rectangular frame for a rear end door assembly fora vehicle body apillar comprising a rounded corner portion having aforwardly directed side Wall receiving channel at its forward extremity,a door jamb and a door stop facing outwardly at its other extremity, thestop being at right angles to the forwardly directed extremity, andspaced inwardly from and substantially parallel to the base of thechannel.

7. As the vertical corner pillars for a rectangular frame for a rear enddoor assembly for a Vehicle body to the walls of which the rear edges ofthe body of the Vehicle may be fastened, an integral corner pillar ofuniform cross section comprising a corner Vwall, a forwardly directedU-shaped channel in the forward edge of said corner wall, a door jambextending forwardly from the inner edge of said corner wall parallel tothe side walls of the U-shaped channel, and

a door stop extending from the inner edge of the door jamb inwardly ofthe assembly.

- THOBURN C. BROWN.

WILLIAM R. BROWN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Germany Sept. 5, 1936

